


And They Call It Puppy Love

by trashpup



Series: The Life of a Puppy [1]
Category: Descendants (Disney Movies), The Isle of the Lost Series - Melissa de la Cruz
Genre: Abusive Cruella de Vil (101 Dalmatians), Anxious Carlos de Vil, Carlos de Vil Needs a Hug, Carlos de Vil-centric, Child Abuse, Cinnamon Roll Carlos de Vil, Cruella wanted a puppy, Dog Carlos de Vil, Evie & Carlos de Vil Friendship, Evie & Jay & Mal & Carlos de Vil as Found Family, Gen, Horny Teenagers, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Isle of the Lost (Disney) is a Terrible Place, M/M, Multi, jaylos, puppy carlos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-15
Updated: 2019-11-15
Packaged: 2021-01-06 07:17:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21222707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trashpup/pseuds/trashpup
Summary: Cruella wanted nothing more than a puppy to call her own, but when she gives birth to a crying baby boy, she's desperate to get rid of it. She goes to the Evil Queen, Ursula, and Maleficent, but none of them had the magic to get her a puppy, so she's left with a little boy to raise instead, except this boy doesn't act like the other little boys on the Isle.





	And They Call It Puppy Love

**Author's Note:**

  * For [taytayloulou](https://archiveofourown.org/users/taytayloulou/gifts).

> This is a short lil fic based on @bunny-lou's puppy!Carlos headcanons. I thought they were adorable so I had to try my hand at writing something for it!
> 
> Link to the post: https://bunny-lou.tumblr.com/post/174583410917/puppycarlos 
> 
> I think I changed how I wrote this like ten times, rip...

There was nothing more Cruella de Vil wanted more than a puppy, ever since she failed with Anita and Roger's puppies she's been searching for another one - just one. Oh, the things she could make from a puppy; just the thought of making a new fur coat, or even a pair of mittens made her grin. In the three years she had been placed on the Isle she hasn't found one single puppy. It wasn’t fair that she got stuck on the gloomy island with no puppies, right? She could make her very own puppy, or she could find a way off the island once and for all, then Auradon would pay for what they’d done. Cruella teamed up with Maleficent, Jafar, Evil Queen, and Ursula to try to take down the barrier and escape to bring Hell upon the rest of the world. They had ambitious plans and nothing could get in their way and everyone knew it.

Now, four years on the Isle, the Evil Queen, Maleficent, Ursula, and Jafar have all abandoned their plans to try to escape because they've had "children." Jafar was dumped with a bouncing baby boy, whose eyes were golden, just like what his father craved. The Evil Queen's baby girl had a tuft of soft blue hair on top of her head and the longest lashes that made her mother croon. Maleficent's little girl had striking green eyes and nearly a full head of purple hair by the time she was two months old. Ursula gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, who never cried, and whose laugh made pirates listen, the laugh that was rumoured to be rivaled by sirens. And Cruella was left with nothing, she had nothing. No puppy, no baby, nothing. It wasn't fair. She never asked for anything else other than the puppy. 

Five years into her life sentence on the Isle and Cruella was more or less blessed with a baby boy, covered in freckles, crying, just like a newborn puppy. Surely she could get Maleficent, Ursula, or the Evil Queen to give her a puppy. She would do whatever it took to get her very own puppy. He already possessed the spots that the Dalmatians had, surely it wouldn’t be too hard. It couldn’t be that difficult, right? A simple spell to change him would do the trick.

By the time her baby was old enough to be left in the house alone, her comrades children had passed their second birthdays and she couldn't stand to watch her own spawn grow into a screaming child like Jafar's son, or a bratty baby like Maleficent's girl. Her puppy was almost one and she couldn’t stand to watch him grow as a human for longer. He was learning quickly, he could walk and use noises to request things he wanted. Cruella hated the noises, they ranged from shrill shrieks to low, almost growls.

She went to the Evil Queen, begging her for a potion, something, anything, that would transform her scruffy haired human boy into a puppy. The Evil Queen said she'd try to whip something up, but no promises. She didn’t have all the ingredients to make a complete potion, but she would try anyway, she knew that Cruella would do anything in return. In the meantime, she went to Ursula, begging that she'd sell her soul in exchange for a puppy. Ursula laughed, spit in her face, and growled that the woman had no soul. So Cruella turned to Maleficent, begging for a spell that would transform her son into a puppy. Maleficent had tried, but the little boy still remained. Cruella threw a fit in front of the mistress of evil, swearing her revenge. Maleficent knew that the barrier would restrict all magic, she knew the spell wouldn't work, but she humored the woman who nearly wept at her feet. 

On her way back inside her home, Cruella noticed a small blue bottle on her doorstep, the Evil Queen had finished the potion she'd asked for. Cruella grinned down at her child, knowing that she'd force it down his throat if she had to. Surely he wouldn’t turn down a beverage after being denied one for a few days.  
And, oh boy was she was right? The boy eagerly took the bottle out of his mother’s hands and gulped it down, holding on with both his small, thin hands, before wiping his mouth off with the back of his hand, giving his mother a small smile. He was able to sit up by himself, but with the excitement of having something to drink, he clapped his hands and gurgled. He rocked back and forth where he sat; Cruella had half a mind to lock him in her fur closet for the obscene noises he was making.

∆

On his fourth birthday, Cruella introduced him to Jace and Harry, the older sons of Jasper and Horace. He was supposed to play nicely with them while Cruella talked business with their parents. He had growled at the two older boys and backed himself into a corner while Harry and Jace both grinned wickedly at him. They were interested in the suspicious dog-like behaviours Carlos exhibited. Their dads had told them about the puppy Cruella had talked about, but they didn’t know the puppy was going to be a four-year old little boy. 

On his eighth birthday, Cruella had locked him in the fur closet with the bear traps and a tiny mattress that Carlos could fit on still if he curled up into a ball. He had gotten into trouble a few days earlier, he’d slipped away from Cruella to go to Dragon Hall - he’d found out about school from the Evil Queen, who’d decided to put her child into public school, versus continuing to castle-school her. Cruella had said that Carlos didn’t need schooling, that he was too stupid to go to school. Carlos growled at her and tried to bite her. 

When he slipped back into Hell Hall at the end of the school day, Cruella had beaten him and kicked him down the stairs. He had bruises littering his sides, a broken wrist and a twisted ankle. He lost a couple already loose teeth and Cruella threw him into the fur closet and he had to quickly curl up to avoid touching anything. He knew that if he touched any of her furs, he’d get double the punishment and he didn’t think he could take anymore punishment.

On his tenth birthday, Carlos had been forced to clean all of Hell House from top to bottom, he had growled behind his mother's back, a growl that Cruella had first heard for herself a couple of days before Carlos' eighth birthday. She had smiled at the fact that he showed signs of being a puppy. When she allowed the boy to bathe, he vehemently refused, when she offered him food, he would barely even chew it before he swallowed, which often ended with him choking or throwing it back up because he ate too fast. He obediently wore the flea collar she fashioned for him.

Days before his fifteenth birthday, Cruella got wind of the fact that her little puppy was going to be carted off to Auradon. She was initially mad, but she thought that she might be able to tell her little boy that he can fully become the puppy he was meant to be. He had hidden from her in the upcoming days, fearing that she would be mad that he was leaving her, he had taken the two outfits Cruella had made him, along with the flea collar. She sought him out the day he was supposed to leave but he slipped between her fingertips right before she could grab him. Part of her was glad to get rid of the mistake, she could always try again, this time with someone else’s child instead of her own. 

∆

“Carlos, quit scratching yourself, you’re going to make yourself bleed,” Evie swatted at his hands, accidentally making contact with the side of his head instead. He whimpered at the contact and gave her a hurt look. How could she? “Baby, I’m sorry, you know I didn’t mean to hit you; you’ve got to stop scratching behind your ears, you’ll make yourself bleed again, and we don’t want a repeat of last time. You wouldn’t let me clean the wounds and it got infected.” Evie’s voice was soft and Carlos knew he ought to listen to her, so he tried his best to keep his hands off of himself. But, just to try, he gave Evie another kicked puppy look and a couple whimpers, just for good measure. Maybe she’d feel bad and wouldn’t make him take another shower later that night. There were a couple of times on the journey that Carlos moved his hands up to scratch behind his ears again, but Evie decided that holding onto his hands was the best course of action. Carlos tried to grab Evie’s hands in his mouth and hold onto them but Evie wouldn’t let him, so he settled for cleaning himself and Evie where he could reach and where she would allow him to clean, which wasn’t saying much. Evie was very particular about what touched her skin, so Carlos’ tongue was out of the question.

Mal gave Carlos a necklace that she made, it made him extremely happy to belong to someone, he showed it off to Jay and Evie, he loved being collared, it meant that he belonged to someone, it meant that he was a good boy. He wiggled his ass when she went to put it on him. She had to hold him still so she could get it around his neck. He had his “collar” and his flea collar, the collar his mother told him that he had to wear to keep him clean. Carlos didn’t know what it meant, but he listened anyway, just in case. Even in Auradon, he wore it, even though everyone told him that he didn’t have to. He wore his flea collar - and the necklace Mal gave him - every single day, he was never seen without them.

∆

“Mal?” Carlos asked one night, he had been up on a couple of blankets on the floor where he had been cleaning himself quietly. He twisted his fingers in his shirt, not making eye contact with her. He whimpered a bit, unsure of how to continue and whether or not he should continue.

“What’s up?” Mal looked over at Carlos from her bed. She was studying for some class that Carlos could ace in his sleep, Jay was sitting opposite from her, working on the same class. He was running his hands through his hair, not understanding what he was doing, he was mouthing the questions off the paper to himself to try to understand them. Evie was sitting at her sewing machine, working on a new outfit for Carlos, one that wouldn’t bother him, one that allowed him free range of his limbs and didn’t feel restricting like his other two felt. He wore some of Jay’s old outfits because they were baggy on him, he liked them, Jay liked seeing Carlos in his clothes.

“D-Do you think Evie would make me a proper collar?” he whispered. Mal tilted her head to the side before sliding off her bed to sit next to Carlos on the floor. From there she was able to see that his face was bright red and tears threatened to spill from his eyes. She was able to wipe them before they fell.

“Speak up, pup, what’s going on?” Mal’s voice was soft, it instantly made Carlos calm down a bit. _He liked when voices were quiet, it was easier on his ears, he was thankful that Mal understood that because some people at Auradon didn’t seem to understand that his ears were sensitive to noise._

“Do you…” Carlos paused and took a deep breath before continuing, “do you think Evie would make me a proper collar? Like one that shows that I belong to you guys?” Carlos kept his voice quiet, hoping Jay and Evie wouldn’t overhear him. He kept his eyes down, his fingers twisted in his shirt. Mal lifted his head up, forcing him to make eye contact with her. Carlos still managed to look everywhere that wasn’t Mal.

“Do you want me to ask her?” Mal asked, running her hand through his hair, feeling him relax against her touch. He just nodded, unable to bring himself to ask Evie himself, he knew he wasn’t strong enough to do it. He felt stupid, he felt like there was no way Evie was going to do it, like she was going to think he was weird for wanting a collar. He wasn’t a real puppy, he remembered that his mother told him that she wanted a puppy and he would never be a puppy, and that he was a disappointment to her. 

∆

In class Jay would ruffle his hair during class whenever he got questions right or got a perfect score on a test or quiz. Carlos would lean into Jay’s hand whenever he would ruffle his hair or scratch behind his ears. It made Carlos smile so Jay tried to do it as often as possible. The students at Auradon thought it was weird that Carlos acted dog-like, but they didn’t want to get on his bad side, just in case he bit. 

Jay would let Carlos tag along during Tourney practice and Carlos loved watching Jay run around the field, but they soon learned that someone else would have to sit with Carlos so he wouldn’t run onto the field to return the ball to Jay or the coach and wait for it to be thrown again. Thankfully, Carlos only whined in front of Jay, Jay didn’t think he could explain his friends dog-like behaviour to his coach. 

When Carlos met Dude, they had bonded immediately. They would spend nearly an hour each night grooming each other, and eventually they had to leave Dude with Mal and Evie so Carlos would get enough sleep at night. Jay would wake up some nights to Carlos cleaning himself like a dog would. It was honestly cute, in Jay’s eyes. What Jay didn’t understand was why Carlos insisted licking his neck and face as well. Jay - unlike Carlos - took plenty of showers.

_“You’re dirty, I gotta clean you!” Carlos would insist._ Jay didn’t mind, Carlos was thorough with his tongue, and he never forgot to clean behind Jay’s ears, which Jay constantly forgot to do himself. They would fall asleep most nights cuddled into each other, Jay falling asleep to Carlos licking his neck. 

When they fell asleep in separate beds, Carlos was more prone to nightmares, so Jay took to sleeping in Carlos’ bed and they found that Carlos woke up from nightmares less. If he did have a nightmare, Carlos would make strangled whines and toss in his sleep. He would occasionally thrash and claw at his skin, Jay quickly realized that Carlos wouldn’t stop for anything and if he wanted Carlos to stop he would have to hold him down until he was calm enough to console. Tonight was one of those nights.

“Carlos, Carlos please calm down, you’re going to hurt yourself,” Jay kept his voice quiet, knowing from history that Carlos didn’t like it when people raised their voices at him. Jay had a couple of scars from startling Carlos and he hated how guilty Carlos looked (and probably felt) when he realized that he had hurt Jay. He continued to try to calm Carlos down, he easily held both of Carlos’ wrists in one hand and was able to run his fingers through his hair, knowing that it calmed him down and made him happy. Carlos growled at the touch, flinching away and trying to get away from Jay even more. 

The growling didn’t stop when Jay took his hands away from Carlos’ hair and releasing his wrists. He went from growling to whimpering to simply crying. Jay stayed away from Carlos, just in case he decided to scratch or bite, it pained him to watch Carlos struggle, so he started whispering.

“Pup, it’s not real. My voice is real, my eyes see what’s real, okay? You’re with me, we’re laying in bed, in Auradon. You’re safe and I’m here to protect you. I’m not going to let anyone hurt you. Can you hear me?” Jay moved his hand towards Carlos’s, watching Carlos twitch, his hands were flat on the bed, his eyes were shut tightly, trying to block out whatever he could see. “Tap the bed twice if you can hear me.

There was no response. It made Jay worry even more, Carlos always responded, no matter how bad things were. There was another moment of silence, followed by another low growl, then two taps on the mattress. Jay smiled; he could continue now that he knew Carlos could hear and understand him.

“Pup, can you open your eyes? I need you to tell me what you can see, but you have to open your eyes first. Can you do that for me?” Jay kept his voice soft, he had moved to turn on the table lamp so they could see each other. Jay watched Carlos as he took a few seconds to lay completely still before whimpering and trying to open his eyes. He took a deep breath and tried again. His eyes felt like they were glued shut and he had to try a couple more times before being able to squint between his lashes. He saw Jay sitting in front of him, worry etched on his face. 

“C-Can you hold me?” Carlos asked. Jay nodded and took Carlos into his arms, not bothering with the light, it didn’t matter. All that mattered was that Carlos was okay and not hurt. 

“I’m not going to ask about that, but if you ever want to talk to me, I’m here for you. You can always talk to me, about anything. I had nightmares too, you know? A few years before we met, Jafar was awful to me and it gave me nightmares. Mal got a busted up book about trauma recovery and helped me. I can try to find something like that for you if you want it. I’m sure Auradon would be more than willing to provide therapy, although I know you aren’t a huge fan of talking to people, especially ones you don’t know,” Jay smiled to himself, watching Carlos work his jaw as if he was speaking. He waited for Carlos to say something out loud, but nothing came of it, only a satisfied noise, glad to have Jay holding him, protecting him. 

∆

“C, it’s been days, you have to take a shower!” Jay scrunched his nose as he hugged Carlos. 

Carlos looked wounded, was he not doing a good enough job of cleaning himself? He was trying his best, and his friends always stopped him and Dude from cleaning each other. Jay held out his hand so he could take Carlos into the shower. He shook his head and pressed himself against the wall farthest from the bathroom door. There was no way that Jay could get him in the shower, absolutely not.

“Carlos, don’t make me get Evie,” Jay threatened. Carlos would never disobey Evie, but he abhorred bathing. He did his best to press himself against the wall, trying to flatten himself as much as he could, shaking his head, trying to tell Jay that he didn’t want Evie. “Fine. I’ll be back,” Jay left the room, there was no doubt in Carlos’ mind that he was getting Evie. He searched the room in a blind panic, trying to find a place to hide. Under the bed, in the closet, under his desk, under Jay’s bed, under Jay’s desk, Jay’s closet. Jay’s closet.

Jay’s closet was messy and it smelled gross, but Carlos loved it. He made himself comfortable in the nest of dirty clothes that Jay threw on the ground instead of in his laundry basket. He smiled to himself before he heard the door open and the unmistakable sound of Evie and Jay talking, after that he was nervous that they were going to find him. 

“Where is he?” Evie asked, scanning the room for a sign of the small boy. She immediately started looking under the beds and desks, she even looked in the bathroom to see if he was hiding in plain sight. “Carlos? Where are you?” she called out to him in a sing-song voice. He whined from his hiding place in the closet, not wanting to give himself away. “Carlos, you’ll get a special treat afterwards!” she bribed him. He let out another whine, louder than the last one. Jay pulled open the closet doors, scaring Carlos and making him yelp. Jay grabbed him under the armpits and pulled him out of the closet, much to Carlos’s displeasure. He thrashed in Jay’s arms, careful to avoid making contact with Jay’s body, not wanting to hurt him unintentionally.

“Baby boy, you’ve got to shower. I promise we can cuddle after you’re all cleaned, but now you need to be clean. You have to behave, though. If you don’t behave, no treats and no cuddles. Evie’s here, she’s got your shampoo and body wash. She’ll help you, okay?” Jay bargained with Carlos, knowing that there was nothing Carlos loved more than cuddling and chocolate, which is exactly what he was going to get if Evie told him that Carlos behaved for her. He continued to whine and cry as Evie undressed him.

“Carlos, remember what Jay said, you have to behave,” Evie chastised as Carlos started to squirm in her grasp, he continued to squirm as she nearly carried him to the shower. He let out pitiful whines when she led him under the warm water but didn’t fight her, he didn’t try and bite her when she reached up to wash his hair, he cried a bit and gave her a sad look, trying to make her feel bad for torturing him like this. 

“Evie,” he let another pitiful whine escape from between his lips as she turned him to rinse out his hair. Everything she used to clean him was scent-less because she knew that if anything he used had a strong scent to it, it would irritate his nose. “Please, no more.” Carlos was nearly begging for her to stop as she cleaned behind his ears and his back and every place he couldn’t reach himself. She moved quickly, knowing that Carlos got antsy the longer she took. 

He certainly had gotten better from the very first time she, Mal, and Jay had tried to bathe him. He’d fought them like his life depended on it. Jay had gotten scratched across his face, leaving a decent sized scar for months before it started to fade. Evie and Mal were both sporting Carlos-sized bite marks on their arms and hands from where Carlos bit them to try to protect himself. His canine teeth were more pointed and sharper than a human’s canines should be. He bit down on Mal so hard that he left two punctures on her arm and the scars never fully healed.

“Shh, shh, we’re almost done, let me rinse you off and then we can get dried off, okay?” Evie rinsed him off as she spoke, making sure she rinsed all the body wash off of him. Once she turned the water off, Carlos relaxed, not realising how tense he was, he let out a sigh and started to shake the excess water off his body, but Evie stopped him. “No, don’t shake, I have a towel for you right here, it’s soft and warm, just as you like.” She held the towel out for him and he moved himself into the towel, allowing Evie to pat him dry. Carlos held still while she wiped the water from his face and allowed him to shake the water from his hair. 

“Evie? Carlos? Are you guys done in there? The water has been off for a while, what are you guys doing?” Jay knocked on the door, making Evie jump at the noise. Carlos was curled up into Evie on the floor, she had gotten dressed while Carlos sat on the floor, huddled into the towel that Evie left covered over him. She had sat down next to him and told him that he could get dressed, but he just laid his head in her lap, not wanting to move. 

“We’re okay, I think Carlos is a bit tired after his shower. You can come in, the door is unlocked,” Evie called back to Jay, trying to keep her voice quiet, but also loud enough that Jay would be able to hear her. She didn’t see him jump at the sudden noise, so she assumed he had fallen asleep. Jay slowly opened the door, peering down to see Carlos curled up into Evie, barely covered in a towel, shivering.

“I’ll take him to his bed,” Jay bent down and picked Carlos up, careful to move his towel so it was covering him. Carlos curled into Jay’s chest, desperate to steal some of Jay’s body heat. When Jay tried to set Carlos down, Carlos grabbed onto Jay’s shirt, attempting to pull him into bed with him, so Jay obliged, sliding in next to Carlos, letting the boy curl up into his side. Jay closed his eyes, listening to the soft sounds of Carlos breathing in and out as he rested. 

∆

Jay woke up and immediately started scratching behind Carlos’s ears to wake him up, hearing the low-pitched moan that usually followed whenever Carlos liked something a lot. Carlos woke up faster than Jay thought he would, still moaning quietly. It made Jay’s stomach flip like it did when he found that he liked something, so he continued. Carlos let out another moan, pushing his head into Jay’s hand before guiding him farther down so Jay was scratching his lower back. Carlos moved his back to push into Jay’s hand, Jay dared to go lower and when he did, Carlos nearly howled at the feeling, wiggling his hips into Jay’s hand, forcing him to continue.  
“Boys,” Evie cleared her throat. Neither of them remembered that she was there, and they were too engrossed in their own activities to notice anyone. “I’ll leave you to it, then.” Evie quickly exited their room, heading back to her own room. Jay smiled into Carlos’s still wet hair, leaving little kisses as he trailed down the side of his face to his neck. 

Carlos wiggled his body so he was half on top Jay, he could feel Jay’s hard cock against his stomach. He let out a whine, feeling heat rush through his body. Jay chuckled as Carlos whined and humped against his leg. 

“Pup, slow down,” Jay didn’t stop Carlos physically, he couldn’t get Carlos off if he tried; when Carlos started to hump Jay, he didn’t stop until he was done. Part of Jay loved it, but today, he wanted Carlos a little longer today. Carlos let out a whimper, still humping against Jay’s leg, going faster than before. Jay had to shake him off and hold him down to slow him down. He was still trying to buck his hips up as Jay held him down, whining and letting out small noises of protest.

“BOYS! Put on clothes! Evie has something!” Mal’s voice rang through the room, scaring both boys. She was pounding on the door, which freaked Carlos out, he let out a yelp and scampered off his bed, hiding under Jay’s bed. Jay sighed, opening the door for the girls before retreating back to his bed and kneeling down to find a still-naked Carlos curled up in a ball, covering his ears. 

“Pup, it’s alright. You’re okay, it’s just Evie and Mal, they didn’t mean to scare you,” Jay’s voice was soft, trying to counteract the harshness of Mal’s voice and the banging on the door. He reached under the bed, trying to find Carlos’ hand, Carlos let out a growl, not wanting to be disturbed. Jay pulled his hand back quickly, almost as if he’d been shocked. 

“Why did he regress so quickly? Usually he’ll only tremble a little bit before being able to calm himself down. Today, he’s hidden himself under the bed and he growled at me,” Jay sighed and ran a hand through his hair, brushing out tangles with his fingers absent-mindedly as he paced the room. “Something else has gotta be going on, as well as what just happened. It can’t have just been you pounding on the door. He went from horny to terrified in about three seconds and he won’t tell me anything, which I hate. I just want to be able to help him, but I can’t if he won’t talk to me.”

Jay continued to pace around the room and from under the bed, Carlos watched him, counting how long it took him to get from one side to the other and back to the bed. He would pause for four and a half seconds by the bed, probably contemplating trying to get Carlos out from underneath it. Carlos simply refused to budge, no matter what anyone said. 

“Jay, slow down. He can probably sense your anxiety and that might make him not want to come out. How about you sit at your desk and we can talk to Carlos while he’s under the bed,” Evie was calm, she didn’t seem panicked at the thought of Carlos regressing, no worry laced in her voice. She was able to keep her composure, taking leadership.

Carlos was breathing heavily from under the bed. The space was small, but only slightly smaller than the closet that Cruella had given him. He couldn’t breathe, he was over-stimulated, hating the fact that his senses were given multiple things to try to focus on. There was Jay, there was Jay’s voice. There was his body as well as Jay’s. Carlos tried to focus on Jay’s body, not listening to what he was saying. He was getting better about choosing something to focus on, but when he got caught off-guard and sounds and touches all came back to him at once, it was overwhelming. Couple that with Mal pounding on the door and screaming at them, it was a little too much to handle. How was he supposed to tell Jay? Jay would never want to mess around with him again.

“Carlos? Pup…” 

There was a pause between his name and the nickname the three of them used for Carlos. It was Evie, she had always been cautious about using his nickname, unsure if she was allowed.

Carlos moved his head up to see that Evie was sitting on the floor of the room, holding something in her hands. Carlos perked up a bit. It was wrapped up in black and white so everyone would know that it was a gift for Carlos. 

“You have to come out if you want your present.” Evie always had rules, and a big one was respect. You couldn’t hide and get rewarded, you had to use your manners during mealtime, you have to say please and thank you, as well as ‘sir’ and ‘madam.’ 

Carlos debated crawling out from under the bed, still fully naked. He decided against it and quietly asked for pants, boxers, and a t-shirt, which Jay handed to him quickly. When he emerged from under the bed, he was met with Evie, Jay, and Mal all staring at him, varying levels of worried looks on their faces. He quickly looked down, avoiding their gazes, unsure of how mad they were with him, not wanting to find out. 

“Pup, what happened?” Jay stepped forward and held out his hand, waiting to see if Carlos would take it or growl again. When he did neither, Jay took his hand in his own and squeezed lightly to let Carlos know that he wasn’t mad. 

“Nothing happened, it’s fine,” Carlos mumbled in response. He was still staring at the ground, trying hard not to cry, but when he felt Mal come to stand at his side, he started to hyperventilate a bit, unsure of how his body was trying to react. 

“Carlos, I need you to breathe for me. I need you to take a second and inhale through your nose, then exhale through your mouth,” Mal immediately started trying to get Carlos to calm down before he started to panic again. He tried to listen to her, but he couldn’t help the strangled whines that slipped through his lips. 

“I know what will make you feel better, Pup. A gift. You love gifts and I think you’re gonna love this,” Jay gave Carlos a small smile. Evie had told him about the gift and Jay thought it was a wonderful idea. She’d finished faster than he thought she would, but he was happy it was done now. 

Carlos lifted his head to look at Jay, his cheeks were red and he was biting his lip so hard that blood threatened to spill. Evie quickly handed over the small box that she’d carefully wrapped in red and black wrapping paper. He stared at her, unsure if he was allowed to open it, but after getting the okay from Evie, he ripped off the paper with a lot more aggression than he meant. He opened the box and inside was something he’d been wanting for a while. 

“A collar? For me?” Carlos whispered, unable to believe that he finally had a proper collar to wear. Mal smiled at him before showing him the inside, where Evie had sewn their names into the material. On the outside were three symbols: a dragon, a heart with a crown, and a genie's lamp - at Jay's request. He officially belonged to his family and he couldn’t be any happier. 

Mal, Jay, and Evie loved their weird little pup, but he was theirs and they would always love him unconditionally, no matter what. No matter if he growled at them when he was scared, or bit them. They loved him, all of him. 

Jay loved the way that Carlos was so eager to play fetch, it let Jay practice Tourney, and Carlos was allowed to run after the ball and cry at Jay until he threw it again. They always stayed after practice to let Carlos run off some steam, seeing as he wasn’t allowed out of arm's reach of Evie during practice. 

Mal loved the way that Carlos wasn’t afraid to make ‘odd’ noises at the students in Auradon, he was becoming more secure in who he was and he felt safe. He had seen the students at Auradon that held magical abilities, there were a few that could shape shift into something completely different and they felt more comfortable staying like that. Mal had watched Carlos grow into himself, finding that he was happier when he could be who he was. 

Evie loved the way Carlos couldn’t sit still and was always down for some cuddling. Of course, she rarely ever let him, but the rare time she’s let him, she’s found that Carlos ‘cleaning’ her was more soothing than she thought it would be. When they would just cuddle, Carlos would lay his head on her stomach and mimic her breathing. It forced her to calm down, especially when she overlooked herself. 

They all loved him and he loved them too, wanting to show them but he was never away from them long enough to plan anything other than ‘impromptu’ cuddle sessions, and with Carlos being a teen, it usually led to something even better with Jay, and who could say no to him.


End file.
